Cricket: My advice to Simon is savour your Test debut.Byline: MATTHEW MAYNARD Matthew Peter Maynard (born March 21, 1966, Oldham, Lancashire) is a former cricketer. Maynard was a skilled batsman (and, later in his career, wicketkeeper) famed for his aggressive and dashing strokeplay. SIMON Jones Simon Jones may refer to:
I wasn't told that when I made my own debut for England, but it is something I would say to any debutant De`bu`tant´ n. 1. A person who makes his (or her) first appearance before the public. because playing for England goes by in a flash. I said to Simon Simon, in the Bible. 1 One of the Maccabees. 2 or Simon Peter: see Peter, Saint. 3 See Simon, Saint. 4 Kinsman of Jesus. 5 Leper of Bethany in whose house a woman anointed Jesus' feet. this week, remember to try and take it all in; look at the crowd, which will be bigger than anything he's been used to, remember where you are fielding; try and savour the memorable moments. I said the same to Crofty when he first played for England, likewise to Watty and Steve James Steve James can refer to multiple people.
As for how Simon will fare against the Indian batsmen, it's true to say that any attack is going to find it very hard to take 20 of their wickets. They are a formidable batting side, and my feeling is England's best hope at Lord's will be an honourable draw, with Simon having enjoyed a successful debut. I'm delighted to see that the selectors have kept faith with Simon having given him the opportunity to progress with the England Academy in Australia during the summer. He's come back a better player from that experience; he's taken 35 wickets at 22 or 23 apiece this summer, which is his best spell in the Glamorgan first team to date. He is 23 years of age, and the majority of those players selected for the academy are being looked upon as players who will feature prominently in the future of the England Test side. Hopefully, Simon can make his mark. He strikes me as the sort of player who could handle the big stage, and lets hope he can make the most of his chance. He's got a sizeable void to fill with Darren Gough missing of course, and Andrew Caddick, who was bowling beautifully at the start of the summer, also out. While Simon is making his bow for England, we'll be missing him, no doubt, in our latest County Championship game, against Essex at Chelmsford, which started today. We are also without Mike Kasprowicz, so it's a game that will test our resources. When we beat Essex at Swansea earlier this month, we were full strength and they were missing players; now the roles are reversed. None the less, we are confident after some good performances of late, and the wicket at Chelmsford is usually conducive to good cricket. Speaking of wickets made for good cricket, what a belter belter Noun Slang an outstanding person or event: a belter of a match at Cheltenham. It offered something for everyone, and what a tremendous win for us. On a personal note, I was happy to mirror what I did with the bat 11 years ago by scoring the two centuries at the festival. I was shattered after the second one, in our run chase. We were set a tough target of 317 to win, but we got a great start from the skipper and Adrian Dale, who got us off at the right tempo. They scored at over five an over so it meant the pressure was considerably less later on. The tail supported me really well, and it was the first time we've got maximum batting points out of game, which is something it is vitally important for us to repeat over the coming weeks. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion